Just perfect...

good back-story, and good acting

A Masterpiece!

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

By the time the 'Carry On' series had got to this point all subtlety had been lost as had most of the regular cast. Only Kenneth Connor and Joan Simms appear here and the latter had a relatively small role. Connor plays Captain S. Melly who has just being given command of an anti-aircraft battery; he has a couple of problems however; it is a mixed squad whose personnel would rather be enjoying each others company than preparing to take on the Luftwaffe and they don't have a real gun. The film follows Melly and his Sergeant Major as they attempt to train the squad as well as trying to keep them out of each other's huts.I was expecting this to be much worse when I saw how few of the regular cast were present… that isn't to say it is good; it just isn't terrible either. Connor does a decent job as Melly and Windsor Davies is great as Sergeant-Major 'Tiger' Bloomer even if the character is to all intents and purposes the same one he played in 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' as he spends most of the time shouting and turning bright red. There are a few funny moments but many of the jokes are too puerile; thinking the aircraft name 'Fokker' is funny because it sounds like an obscenity is the sort of thing that would seem amusing to somebody in primary school but not to anybody much older. There were also a couple of topless scenes that seemed out of place in a Carry On film; the series was better when the humour was a little naughty without being blatantly smutty. I wouldn't recommend going out of ones way to watch this; if you want a good comedy set in war time Britain just watch an episode or two of 'Dad's Army'… they have far more laughs and actually feel as though they are set during war time.

Back in the mid-1970s, as the 'space race' receded in favour of nostalgia, World War Two became a cultural fixation. There were plenty of popular TV shows ('A Family At War', 'Colditz', 'Dad's Army' etcetera) and movies utilising the era, and it made canny sense for the 'Carry On' writers to capitalise on it. As we know by now, that was the only thing about the resultant 'Carry On England' which the makers got right. Back in the franchise's 1960s heyday, it was the cleverly written saucy banter which, along with the notable stock of character actors, remained the abiding pleasure of a good 'Carry On'. Come the more liberal 1970s, their 1960s brand of 'sauciness' began to look quaint and was replaced by a slightly clammy smuttiness, and so the series lost its innocence. Long adrift from that era of cheekiness, the 'Carry On' movies hit the sandbar and became just more examples of dull, embarrassing 1970s British sex comedies. This one has a drastically reduced core of 'regulars', a completely miscast central couple and third-rate banter. That's 'third rate' for the 'Carry Ons', mind. With a steady eye, one is sometimes taken aback with the quality of the writing. Even amidst the most famous entries, there are some prime examples of wince-inducing lame comedy writing. Well, imagine a whole movie made out of just that stuff, and you have the script of 'England'. How bad is it? I bought 'England's Brit-sex-com contemporary 'Confessions of a Pop Performer' the same week and got more laughs out of it. And that wasn't a very good movie, either. Still, if you're a 'Carry On' completist or an appreciator of bad comedies, then you'll have to sit through this at some stage. To be honest, this is the only movie I've reviewed on IMDb which I didn't finish watching. I got about three quarters of the way through and gave up; and from reading the other reviews here it seems I missed nothing. As has been said; a bad thriller easily becomes a comedy, but a bad comedy is no laughing matter. And 'Colditz' was funnier than this.

When Sid James died in 1976, you'd think Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas would have had the sense to let the 'Carry on' series die with him. He had become, over the years, the 'boss' of that marvellous gang of comics, and to try and pretend it was going to be the same without him was sheer folly. They also had the departure of scriptwriter Talbot Rothwell to deal with. Dave Freeman's script for 'Carry On Behind' was okay, but calling on David Pursall and Jack Seddon ( writers of M.G.M's delightful 'Miss Marple' series, starring Margaret Rutherford ) to expand an unmade episode of A.T.V.'s 'Carry On Laughing' into a film screenplay was clearly a mistake - neither had a feel for innuendo-based comedy.The film is set in somewhere in England in 1940. Captain S.Melly ( Kenneth Connor ) is appointed new Commanding Officer of an experimental mixed sexes' anti-aircraft base. He arrives to find a guard wearing lipstick, and female underwear in full view on clothes lines. The combined unit of men and women include 'Sergeant Len Ready' ( Patrick Mower ), 'Gunner Shorthouse' ( Melvyn Hayes ), 'Sergeant Tilly Willing' ( Judy Geeson ), and 'Private Alice Easy' ( Diane Langton ), and their names are the funniest jokes in the film. The men and women of the unit are less interested in the war than in getting into bed with one another - as often as possible.Melly's attempts to impose discipline make him unpopular, and the target of a series of rather nasty practical jokes, such as falling repeatedly in cow dung, having his uniform fall to pieces during a march, and his soap changed so that he turns blue when he next tries to shower. With a name like 'S. Melly', you can guess what the unit have decided to rechristen him. Connor is one of the best 'Carry on' performers, yet this leaden script gives him absolutely nothing funny to say or do. Windsor Davies' 'Sergeant-Major 'Tiger' Bloomer' is a poor carbon-copy of his 'B.S.M. Williams' from the B.B.C. sitcom 'It Ain't 'Alf Hot, Mum'. Seeing T.V. tough-guy Patrick Mower try to be a chirpy Corkney in the mold of Jim Dale is about as funny as watching open-heart surgery. Poor Judy Geeson! Wasted in a role that Wendy Richard could have done so much better. 'Carry on' veterans Jack Douglas, Peter Butterworth, Joan Sims, and Julian Holloway likewise fall flat in weakly scripted roles.This feels less like a 'Carry on', and more like one of those dreadful Ned Sherrin & Terry Glinwood 'Up Pompeii!' spin-offs such as 'Up The Front' and 'Up The Chastity Belt'. In fact the former ( set in The Great War ) is a comic masterpiece by comparison. 'England' opened to hostile reviews and poor box office takings. Though an attempt was made to broaden its appeal by removing the female nudity and some of the more suggestive gags, it proved in vain. Time had moved on. Audiences wanted Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, the 'Monty Python' team ( John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd were about to burst on the scene in 'National Lampoon's Animal House' ), and not what was left of the 'Carry on' gang augmented by strange faces. Mind you, even Sid, Hattie, Kenneth and Charlie would have had a job making this script funny. The nadir is when Melly swallows cascara to remove a tunic button from his digestive system. It takes effect, he starts farting uncontrollably, and as he runs to the W.C., the film suddenly speeds-up, like a Benny Hill sketch. 'Carry on' fans' surely covered their eyes in embarrassment at this point.The Imperial War Museum is thanked in the credits for the 'loan of the gun'. Pity it was not also thanked for its restraint in not complaining about this dismal film.

This is easily the closes you will get to Kubrick's 'Dr Strangelove' deep performances from a skilled cast. Yes, many of the original team are missing, but what a wonderful show. The attention to period costume is remarkable considering the small budget. The wit of the dialogue far outshines some of Oscar Wildes later work. It is a great satire, you could compare it to 'All quiet on the Western Front' but with a rich sense of humour. It takes the death aspect out of war, and that can only be a good thing. I was particularly amused by this bawdy romp through the humorous side of World War II. Those were the days. When you see this it makes you long for a Third World War, what a jolly good laugh that could be! Bravo!Ten out of ten! Fantastic entertainment!